Hi guys, I myself am a big fan of Naruto, and I wanted to create an effect from the anime. I’ve bit the bullet with this one since pulling it off has been difficult. I really would like to turn this into a portfolio piece but I feel as though it’s not quite there yet. I am looking for some feedback that I could use to perfect this and make it better. Having Itachi dissolve has been the hardest part since this model I bought has 4 materials and the UVs are not great. If anyone could suggest any scenery or toon shader tutorials to fit the scene as well that would be rather helpful.
Looks good so far, I think it would look better with a lower noise scale and maybe some feathers that kind of fly out of it with the crows which would add more layers and interest. If you are spawning the crows in Niagara you could spawn them based on the material that’s controlling the opacity, there are a few tutorials on how to do this, this one was recommended in another thread: UE4 - Niagara Texture Sample - Part 4 - Skeletal Mesh - YouTube. Just instead of sampling a static mesh you would likely be sampling a skeletal mesh. This is a really complicated effect and I think you’re on the right track, keep it up!
First off! I love Itachi and his crow clones. I think you’re most of the way there. The secondary feathers that come off in addition to the crows could be more prominent, size and spawn rate. The main crows are too directional as a group, notice they are forming an upside down cone rather than spreading in all directions. For the dissolve i think the noise scale is too small, the edges of the noise should resemble the size and scale of the wings and the secondary feather particles. if your UV’s are bad maybe you could try a world aligned texture to drive your dissolve. Also maybe adding some world position offset to the character mesh to get the distorting and tearing look. I think its important to note that the silhouette of itachi actually grows before it dissolves away.
Oh wow i didn’t know you could spawn the crows based on the material actions that’s really good to know, i just timed it the best I can to begin with, thanks for the link! Do you have any recommendations for toon shaders? character specific since a post process one didn’t work for me …
I shall look into the direction of the crows more carefully. I believe I am using a world dissolve texture that is why it’s so prominent of a cut from both sides dissolving but yes I agree it needs to match the crows more, any suggestions for a better noise texture? The part about the distortion of itachi himself sounds like a good idea thanks!
I dont think its possible to do a toon shader in unreal without stepping into post processing unfortunately, but you could set the model to “render custom depth” then in the post processing shader use an if statement to compare the scenedepth with customdepth and if scenedepth is greater, apply the toon shader. This way it will only affect the model.
It’s hard to say if a new texture is actually needed or if scale can be used to adjust how the noise appears visually. In regards to how prominent the cut from both sides is, I think noting that the dissolve pattern that the references uses is not only from the left and right but also from the feet toward the core of the body. I don’t know if the material is using linear gradients but a radial gradient or some variation in that could help break up the straight looking erosion.
Appreciate the assistance for your solution to the straight erosions, that’s a good shout! Yeah I could either try a new texture or just scale it to make it more choppy & noticeable.
